380000 tonnes fresh products - Bama

Board of Directors´ report
Nature of the business and where we
operate
The group trades and produces fruit, vegetables,
processed products, flowers and
other products with a limited shelf life.
The group’s head office is located in Oslo,
and there are local offices and subsidiaries
throughout Norway.
Continued operations
The prerequisites for continued operations
have been met. The annual report for 2006
has been prepared in accordance with this
prerequisite.
Working environment and personnel
In accordance with current laws and regulations
the group keeps a record of the
total absence due to illness among its
employees. The total absence due to illness
in Bama Gruppen AS was 5.7% in 2006.
The working environment and the general
level of workplace satisfaction are satisfactory
in the opinion of the Board.
The company had no major workplace
accidents in 2006.
BAMA Gruppen AS has performed checks in
their own divisions and group companies in
accordance with the current HSE regulations.
These regulations have been followed
throughout the group.
Equal opportunities
Bama Gruppen AS employed an average
of 623 man-years in 2006, 118 of which
were women and 505 of which were men.
At the end of the year, there were 540
permanent employees in the company,
102 of which were women and 438 of
which were men. The Board has eight
members, all of whom are men. There are
no women in the corporate management
group. The share of women in the management
group is 23 per cent, and the share
of women among middle management
and other employees is 19 per cent.
The average salary for women in the
management group is 95 per cent of the
men’s salary. For women in the middle
management group, the salary is 101 per
cent of the men’s salary, and for the
remaining employees the women’s salary
is 109 per cent of the men’s salary in this
group.
It is an express fundamental principle of the
group that everyone shall have equal
opportunities, irrespective of gender, age
or nationality. The group has traditionally
recruited employees from environments
where men have been highly overrepresented,
and this is also the case in the
current situation. For 2006 the percentage
of women also showed a small, but gratifying,
increase from the previous year.
The percentage of women is particularly
low in goods handling. Through better preparation
and the use of technical aids, we
feel that we can increase the percentage
of women in this area. We also would like
to see more women in managerial positions
and encourage therefore women to
apply for these positions.
Environmental reporting
The group works actively to reduce the
consumption of non-renewable resources.
In order to reduce the impact on the environment,
we are working to reduce the
use of pesticides. This development is
measured based on reports from the
Norwegian Food Safety Authority. There is
a positive development in this area. In
cooperation with the group’s customers,
there is an increased focus on organically
produced goods.
All divisions in the group have a waste
management plan that stresses reuse. The
waste management costs were reduced
in 2006. The group has chosen the British
Retail Consortium (BRC) standard as its
quality system for maintaining food safety.
This has been implemented in all the group’s
units and also satisfies the Norwegian
government’s requirements.
There are written agreements with all the
Norwegian and foreign suppliers to the
group, and these agreements stipulate
requirements with regard to product quality,
food safety, traceability, and ethical trading,
based on SA 8000. Quality work is a continuous
process, and we see good results
in the form of reduced costs associated
with complaints and wastage. There was
no negative coverage of the group’s products
with respect to food safety in 2006.
Future outlook
The Board sees a great potential for growth
in all the market segments for 2007. First
and foremost by an offensive development
through existing customers. All the grocery
chains have fruits and vegetables high on
their lists of priorities due to their good
performance over time, and our society’s
focus on healthy foods will give increased
consumption in the years to come. The
Bend-it campaign will be an offensive tool
for reaching children and young people,
through goal-oriented participation in the
media and in small and large sports events
in connection with our sponsors. One of
the most important measures will be the
launch of the sports fruit schemes, where
heavily discounted fruits and vegetables
will be made available to athletic teams
through our grocery customers throughout
Norway.
The kiosk and service station market is
developing quickly in a healthy direction
and KPS, BAMA’s activities geared towards
the kiosk and service station trade, is well
positioned with a focus on product development
and custom solutions for people on
the go. The acquisition of Nordic Lunch AS,
which produces sandwiches, salads and
other prepared foods, is expected to give
significant synergies in the day-fresh product
area in both the grocery trade and
KPS market.
The group’s two industry divisions, Gro
Industrier AS and Bama Industri AS, have
both shown good growth and good results
in 2006. Bama Industri AS expects to continue
this good development in 2007, first
and foremost through the focus on product
development and launch of new meal
solutions. An agreement for the sale of
Gro Industrier AS has been entered into
with Findus Norge AS.
We expect increased sales of flowers through
the group’s Grocery and KPS divisions, and
we also expect that the positive development
of the Floriss chain will continue in
2007.
As always there will be an increased focus
on quality and the level of service, at the
same time as the prices and contribution
margins shall be reduced across the board.
Bilde av styre; tas i dag, ettersendes
BAMA’s Board of Directors in 2006, from the left: Bjørn Østeby (employee representative), Paul Jensen (employee representative),
Ole A. Bachke (Chairman), Tom Kristiansen, Jostein Osnes, Kristian Nergaard, Knut Hartvig Johannson, Rune Flaen and Sverre Leiro.
BAMA Annual Report 06 BAMA Annual Report 06
24 25